ATUM - Origins of Adam & Genesis

[100thmonkey]

“It is quite exciting, incidentally, to know that the Genesis account of the creation of mankind through its first parentage in Adam and Eve bears the marks of derivation from the primary Egyptian symbolic depiction.”
- Alvin Boyd Kuhn (Ultimate Canon of Knowledge)

I think our modern world owes a lot to the Egyptians.
Most would think our society originates from a christian model, but where did that christian model really come from?

In the early days of my journey away from christianity it really was exciting for me to discover these things.

Thanks to Google, we can start by going back to the beginning, to Adam himself, or should that be Atum?

Atum: “The Memphite creation myth puts him as the first creation of Ptah, who simply said his name and he came into being.”
Link

Atum: (also known as Tem) - "The Complete"
“The most abstract Name of Netjer; and indeed, in the myth cycle of An (GR Heliopolis), the Netjer “from Whom all Names emanate”.
Like the Biblical God, Tem begins creation alone in the Nun, the deep void, or waters of potentiality.”

By one of two methods Tem is said to have created both all the other Names of Netjer and all creation; either through masturbation and self-impregnation, as "that Great He-She"; or through tears, mucus or other bodily fluids.
Link

Interesting similarities with Adam who is also said to have given names to all creatures.
It’s usually a mother that gives life to one’s offspring, but when Eve was created from Adam’s rib he can then be seen, at least in that light, as a ‘He-She’.

Atum: “According to the myths, he was the first substance (a hill) who emerged from the primeval waters… The Memphite creation myth stated that Atum was conceived in the heart of Ptah and was created by his word. Literally, "he who completes, or perfects".”
Link

With Adam too creation was ‘complete’ and perfect.
The Genesis account also makes mention of the first land rising out of the waters.

Atum: “Sometimes Atum was thought to have originated as a serpent in Nun, and to be destined to return to that form; but through his identification with Re, serpents became his enemies.
…He overcomes the dangerous snake Nehebu-Kau by pressing his fingernail on its spine. Before Gate Nine of the Underworld, Atum stands confronting the coiled serpent Apophis, condemning him to be overthrown and destroyed.”
Link

The offspring of Adam was also said to be destined to crush the head of the serpent whose seed is now at enmity with man.

Atum: “…Totality, in reference to Atum, implies an ultimate and unalterable state of perfection. Atum was the monad from whom all else originally came.”
Link

So 'Atum' sounds like 'Adam', in more than just name.

Anyone familiar with the Genesis account probably recognises these elements:
- A ‘perfect created being’ - who gives names to all.
- A deep void/waters from which arose the first land.
- The ‘crushing’ of a serpent in a future confrontation.

It’s also interesting to note that the ‘waters’ of the Egyptian creation myths were actually the flooding of the Nile River, and the land that appeared was the fresh fertile land left by the subsiding waters, bringing new life to green the fields and fattening the livestock in the region.
The resurrection of Osiris, with his green head, also symbolises this.

Yet there are older gods in Egypt:

Ptah: “…a creator god who brought all things to being by thinking of them with his mind and saying their names with his tongue.”
Link

Genesis 1: “And God said…”

An interesting side note, “…one of Ptah's titles at Thebes was, "The ear which hears”.” …which puts a different angle on biblical parables being declared, “for those with ears to hear.”

Ptah: “…sometimes seen as an abstract form of the Self-Created One, Who effected creation through the actions of His heart and His tongue, and Who "set all the Netjeru in their places and gave all things the breath of life”.”
Link

Here we have a direct reference to the’ breath of life’, something most would first think of from the Genesis account of god breathing life into the nostrils of Adam’s dirt form...

…but we’re getting more into that with the next god…

Khnum: “…thought of as responsible for the creation of mankind, which he made from the mud of the Nile on his potter's wheel.”
Link (broken now)

A direct reference to creating man out of mud/dirt, except in the Genesis account god famously say’s “Let us make man…”…

Khnum: “However, Khnum did not act alone. The Egyptian reliefs usually portray two gods involved in the creation of man. Khnum, the potter god forms humans on his potter's wheel out of the clay of the Nile, but Heket, one of his consorts, puts the breath of life (ankh) into man's nostils (sic), bringing it to life…”
Link

Khnum: “…fashioned the body of Amen-Ra's daughter and the body of her ka, the two forms exactly alike and more beautiful than the daughters of men. He fashioned them of clay with the air of his potter's wheel and Heqet, goddess of birth, knelt by his side holding the sign of life towards the clay that the bodies of Hatshepsut and her ka might be filled with the breath of life.” Link

Again the ‘breath of life’ references, but also now in combination with the creation of man from mud.
Yet see how this also connects with the bible’s description of it’s god as the potter and we the clay.


Now of course this isn’t the whole story for each of these gods, but my point is the similar traits they hold to the characters in the Genesis creation story.


So the next question is, which came first?
...or who copied who?


The gods mentioned above are some of the earliest known gods of ancient Egyptian culture.

It is common knowledge that Egypt existed long before Israel (even according to the bible Israel (Jacob himself) supposedly visited Egypt in the time of Joseph, before the tribes had grown from his offspring).


Genesis, it’s claimed, was written by Moses, an Israelite during their captivity in Egypt, yet raised in the Royal Court as a Prince.
(This could go into a whole thing about Moses link to Akhenaten here, but let’s just stay with the straight biblical version for now…)


By that time Israel had supposedly been living in Egypt for about 400 years, certainly long enough to gain a knowledge of their beliefs.
The Torah (which includes Genesis) would had to have been written by ‘Moses’ while the Israelites were in the wilderness, after their exodus from Egypt.

Egyptian creation mythology is very old and had already undergone several incarnations by the time Genesis was written, as can be seen above with the overlapping accounts of the creation of man variously by Ptah, Khnum, etc.


So what are the timings for these things?

“Khnum, the potter god, is mentioned in the ancient Pyramid Texts of the Old Kingdom Period: Dynasties 3-6 (ca. 2686-2181 BCE).”
Link

Exodus 1:11
Here the Israelites build the Eqyptian cities of Pithom and Raamses, believed to be for Ramses II (1279–1213 BCE). Yet in terms of dating, even if it was the first Ramses that would still only put it in 1295- 1294 BCE.

Further, ’Pithom’, or’ Per-Tem’, means “House of Atum”.
So it’s clear then that both Egyptians and Israelites knew about Atum before the exodus – the earliest ‘Moses’ could have written Genesis.

Acts 7:22
“Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.”

'Mighty in deeds' indeed, according to the bible he led a major rebellion and virtually gave birth to an entire nation. Now he's going to have to give them a new religion and a new set of laws.
Indeed a new god.
A god who suspiciously refused to give his name, saying only, 'I Am'...

Really, I’ve only scratched the surface here (as following the links above will show), but it becomes obvious, to me at least, that ‘Moses’ created a distillation of Atum, Ptah, Khnum and even Heqet, and who knows how many more (Apophis the serpent), into a new unified religion, under it’s new ‘nameless’ god.
After all it’s much easier to maintain order and unity if it’s based on what he and his people already know and can relate to.

So maybe bible apologists should be making their case for the Egyptian gods?
I mean, give credit where credit is due…


I’ve been putting Moses in quotes throughout this post, in deference to the Akhenaten link theory, which I think has legitimacy, yet there are also questions about the name 'Moses' - being an incomplete name.
'Moses' was usually added to an Egyptian Pharoah’s name to mean 'son of', or 'from', or similar.
Usually this would be ‘son of’ one of the gods, eg. Ramses = Son of Ra, Tuthmoses = Son of Thoth and so on. So just plain ‘Moses’ doesn’t really make sense unless it’s "...of a ‘nameless’ god."?
Possibly the banished Aten?